Derek Halpern, from Social Triggers answered a powerful question one of his social triggers readers sent in.   They asked, “I don’t understand… I have tons of friends on Facebook even more following me on Twitter and a bunch of people on my email list all who seem to love my content and Yet when I post my product on my Facebook page my twitter page or send out an email to my list, buy this now you’ll thank me later. No one listens If they already like me and trust me, then why doesn’t my product sell well?”

Which is a fantastic question that comes up pretty damn often… and as Derek points out,  the real question is

“Why do I have to sell my products and services… why don’t they just sell themselves?”

Well, that’s what he covers in this video.  You can watch it above, or if you prefer to read – keep reading below to Derek’s great insights.

DEREK HALPERN: Here’s a deal. No matter what you do, you’ve got to sell other people on it.   Whether you’re trying to help people get in shape, or you develop some of the world’s best software products or if you’re working for a company, you’re trying to get promoted. You’ve got to sell people on it. Why? Here’s a couple of reasons.  First people rarely believe that what you do is as awesome as you believe it is.  It’s true for me, and it’s true for you. Well, not really true for me.

I’m Derek Halpern Alright, let’s get real this idea that you believe your stuff is better than other people think it is is actually backed up by psychological Research in one of Dan ariely books he writes about college students making origami Horrible Hoorah Yet when he [asked] those students how much they would sell that origami for they [price] [their] work Much higher than anyone would be willing to pay for it.

Why? Because they valued their work more than other people did that’s just fact

Sure, there are some people out there who hang on our every word and buy whatever it is we sell, but that’s not usually the case.   When I released my first training course some people bought it without even looking at the sales page because they already knew and trusted me, but not very many people did that… the majority of my sales came from people who didn’t find what I did nearly as awesome as I did so I had to sell them on it.

Taking this back to you, I’m sure you take pride in your work.

I’m sure you think it’s so awesome that it speaks for itself.  You think you should be able to[ just say buy my stuff and people will listen.   Heck I want to do that, but it doesn’t work like that.

Some people might listen and buy your product or service without hesitation, but most people won’t.   You have to sell them on it.  People tend to believe that what you have, while it might work for other people won’t work for them.  So someone struggling to lose weight comes across your personal training site as an example and they think there’s no way that this can work for me or someone who thinks they could ever raise it work?

They might read your article or sales page about how to negotiate a raise and thinks “You don’t know my boss!”.  “He’s different”.

They think that their world is different from everybody else.
They think their problems are unique.
They think their situation is unique

While that may be the case… most people use this sort of thinking as I can excuse and the only way to bust through that excuse is to sell them on your solution, but how first forget about the idea that your product and services will sell itself because they won’t.

You’ve got to do the selling, you’ve got to do the marketing.

Think about it… when apple releases a new iphone do they just say “hey new iphone!”

Not really, they actually do product demonstrations, where they show you how amazing their new product is and all their new product features.  Ever notice how I use a ton of examples in all my content and training I always talk about how it applies to web designers or corporate workers or Freelancers or writers or editors I do this continuously? To mitigate the thought that you might think your situation is different and you might believe my solution won’t work for you.

You have to do the same thing.

You need to work on providing specific examples

So it’s impossible for your readers to believe that their situation is different and to believe that your solution won’t help them third you to stop worrying about being so pussy.  Seriously, friend of mine who launched a book recently and he sent out just one email to his list.

That’s it.  One email.  The dude spent a ton of time riding a book and he was only planning on sending one email.  Look when you’re selling your ideas products and services you should take what I call the poker approach. Here’s how it works.

The world’s best poker players don’t play that many hands of poker.  They play very few hands actually sometimes as little as one hand per hour.  However the hands they do play they play aggressively fighting tooth and nail for each chip in that pot.

Now ever notice how I sell on Social Triggers.

I don’t pitch products that often but when I do I pitch hard, you should do the same exact thing focus on creating value first and foremost and every once in a while when you want to sell what you do or what you created You should sell it hard And then give your readers a break by resorting back to the usual programming the good content that they’ve become accustomed to,

Now here’s a quick recap.  You value your work more than your prospects.

Do your prospects always assume that their situations are unique and your solutions won’t work for them.  How do you overcome these problems?   You must realize that creating a good product or service is the cost of entry and to succeed, you’ve got to sell it you must provide examples that show your prospects that what you do applies to them you need to eliminate that “I’m scared to be pushy monster” as well.   The trick is don’t be pushy all the time be pushy at the right time

Did you pick up a tip or two while watching or reading?  Leave a comment below and let us know what you think about selling to your audience what types of problems?

Did you have what types of suit things are you going to overcome? Share your thoughts below.

Just like this one, whether you’re trying to help get people in shape develop some of the best software beeps.

As found on Youtube